Chapter Text
It was a Sunday evening in New York and Will and Mike were about to open their burger place; The burger dungeon. Mike had decided on that name as he insisted it contained a DnD reference.
The restaurant would open next morning for the first time. Will and Mike decided to throw a party for all their employee’s and them to celebrate.
Steve and Robin were drinking beers and chatting about Robins new girlfriend she refused to tell anyone about except for Steve as El, Mike and Max were playing uno.
Will walked into the room with a tray of milkshakes and put them down on one of the tables.
He sneaks a look at Mike’s cards and gets annoyed by how unorganized it’s looking.
Out of habit Will switches 3 cards around, color coding it with ease as Mike looks at Max like he is planning something evil.
“Uno!” Max yells as she places a wildcard on the green six on top of the pile and then gets up to grab her and El a milkshake.
She takes a sip and Will waits in anticipation for her reaction.
“This tastes amazing”, she comments, taking another sip.
“Well lets hope it tastes good when someone orders one tomorrow” Will says with a content smile on his face, handing Mike a milkshake too.
Will was feeling nervous about the grand opening. It’s not like the food was bad or something he was just scared the investment wasn’t going to pay off. What if business would go well for a month or so and then no one cares anymore? or what if business would'nt go well at all?
Mike didn’t show any nerves about this. Mike was the one who started making their joke into reality, making all of it really happening. Mike was nothing but excited for tomorrow, to see people walk through their door, into their restaurant, order their burgers. Mike was excited to work with their friends all day and have fun while still earning money.
“I could go for some taco’s right now” Steve says, placing his empty can on a random table and leaning against it.
“Taco’s? seriously? Were in a burger restaurant” Mike says, raising his eyebrows at Steve.
“Yeah I can just make us some fries” Will sugests.
Everyone seemed to be in the mood for fries so Will walked to the back, right into the kitchen, hearing all the voices of the party fading away a bit.
He turned on the deep fry and grabbed some frozen fries from the supply closet, emptying the big bag into the deep fry carefully.
He could hear Max yell something very happily, assuming it’s because she won.
Will checked the fries to see them starting to fry. He walked up to storage and grabbed a big basket for the fries but when he turned around Mike was standing right there in front of him, startling him so bad he dropped the basket.
The both of them dive down instantly to pick it up, their heads banging together painfully.
“Shit sorry-“ Mike says, putting a hand on his head where it hurt and looking up to look at Will just to find him staring at him, their faces only inches apart.
Their eyes lock as a blush creeps on Will’s face. They keep eye contact.
Mike leans in closer, seeking for any sign of discomfort in Wills eyes and when he finds none he closes the space between them.
The kiss was sweet and unsure and they both pulled away, looking eachother in the eyes. Will looked confused and surprised at Mike, his breaths heavy.
Mike was scanning Wills face, wanting to do nothing but kiss him again when Will leaned in for another kiss.
This one was different, Will was initiating it, Mike putting his hand on Wills face.
Mike pulls away, keeping his hand on Wills face and making eye contact.
“I’m really happy we get to open our own place” Mike whispers with a smile on his face before grabbing the basket and putting it on the counter, filling it with fries.
Will stood up, hiding how flustered he was as he takes the basket and walks to the group, placing it on the table next to the tray of now empty milkshake glasses.
When the party dies down and the last people leave Will and Mike were left behind with the mess.
“I could clean up for us, you should go home you seem kind of tired” Mike says, wiping down a table.
“No I can help, I’m just nervous for the grand opening” Will says, letting out a sigh as he gathers milkshake glasses and brings them to the counter.
“Nervous? Why?” Mike asks, taking the glasses and putting them into the dishwasher back in the kitchen.
“Well maybe all this time and money just isn’t going to be worth it” Will says, following Mike into the kitchen.
“You need to stop overthinking it so much, Will” Mike said as he messes with the buttons on the dishwasher.
Will shrugs. “I guess”
The next morning Mike woke up at 6AM. Would he need to wake up this early to be in time? No. The restaurant opens at 10AM and he lived 10 minutes away.
Mike was just too thrilled to sleep. He grabs his phone and checks his messages just to see that he wasn’t the only one awake already.
The work group chat was active, everyone texting about the opening and sending pictures of their work outfits and uniforms.
Will was reading all the texts but not responding to any of them. It wasn’t like Will to ignore them. Mike called Will and to his surprise Will picked up immediately.
“Hey” Mike says, all the ideas of what to say leaving his head.
“Hey” Will replied. Something about his tone was nervous.
“Still nervous?”, Mike asks, getting up from his bed with a groan as he walks up to his closet.
“Yeah I am feeling nervous but I think its normal” Will sounded less nervous after letting out a sigh, like talking about it was helping him.
“Well what matters most is our burgers and our dreams”
“Mike that’s the most corniest thing you’ve ever said”
“It’s the truth. Burgers & dreams.”
“Okay Mike, I have to make myself breakfast and get ready now. I’ll see you later” Will says.
“See you later, Will” Mike says just before Will hangs up the phone.
Mike throws his phone onto his bed and changes into a green plaid flannel and black pants.
He ties his shoulder length black curls into a half up half down ponytail and takes a look in the mirror.
He had the whole look. All he needed was stretched earlobes and a little mustache and he could pass as burger joint professional.
Mike didn’t have any piercings. He looked in the mirror at his ear for longer than should be necessary and then he checked the time.
6:32AM
He had all the time in the world, right? He googled for a piercing parlor that would be open and he found a crappy one that was actually open 24/7. “Danny’s piercing shop”
It would only be a 7 minute walk. Mike grabbed his phone and wallet and rushed out the door.
The streets in new York were never really empty, not even this early in the morning.
When Mike finally saw the small piercing parlor with a broken led sign with half the letters not lighting up saying “Danny’s piercing shop” he knew that he was in the right place.
He walks in and sees an old man with more tattoo’s than regular skin looking right at him.
“Hello what can we do for you today?” He asked politely.
The shop smelled a bit like weed but the vibes were okay.
“I want ear piercings” Mike answers, trying to hide his nerves.
“Ear piercings huh? What were you thinking of? Helix? Daith?....?”
“oh uh I was thinking more like my lobe”
The man chuckled.
“Sure man, take a seat.”
Mike sits down at one of the chairs as the man starts marking his ear.
Mike checked his phone as the man cleans his ear.
Will send a text in the gc, finally.
It was a picture of him in the mirror with his phone covering his face. He was wearing black ripped jeans, a black t-shirt with a brownish red flannel over it.
There was a chain hanging from the belt loops of his jeans and he wore a dark grey beanie over his messy bowl cut.
He looked adorable like that, and his outfit was fitting the vibe so well.
Mike was grinning so hard at the photo he barely noticed it when the man patted him on his back.
“You’re all done boy.” The man said enthusiastically.
Mike moved closer to the mirror and he looked amazing. Two silver rings hanging from his ears.
“They look amazing” Mike says in awe, observing his ears in the mirror and flinching when he touches them.
“They suit you” The man adds as he walks back to the counter.
Mike followed him and payed before leaving the shop even more excited to open Will and his restaurant then he did at first.
When the clock hit 9:43AM Will unlocked the doors of their restaurant.
Will walks into the little office at the back and puts down his bag.
He hears the doors open and about 6 seconds later Mike walked into the office too, a half-eaten muffin in his hand and shiny jewels in his ears.
“Mike are those earrings??” Will says with a surprised look on his face.
"Yeah you like them??" Mike asks as Will comes closer to take a look at them.
Mike his hand found his way to Wills hand as he intertwined their fingers.
They had kissed yesterday and none of them have brought it up.
It’s not like Will and Mike weren’t aware of how their friendship was different from their other friendships, but they didn’t say that out loud. They knew it was different when Mike would grab his hand under the blanket at movies nights or when whenever they hugged they lingered or whenever they would tell each other how much they loved each other or when they had kissed yesterday.
Mike let wills hand go at the sound of the door opening.
“Who’s ready to sell burgers?” Steve said, throwing his bag into the corner of the kitchen.
Will and Mike walked out of the office and into the kitchen, welcoming Steve and Robin when El and Max also walked in.
“Okay these are your aprons” Mike says, putting a box on the table.
Will grabs an apron out of the box and ties it around his waist.
It was a black apron with a drawing of a burger with fire behind it and with the text “the burger dungeon” on it.
9:56 AM
Steve and Robin were in the kitchen unpacking packages of burgers and fries while Max and El were talking to Mike.
Will was fixing some settings on the cash register.
Mike walked up to the front and opened the door.
“Well,” Mike says, looking at his watch, “It’s 10. Now we wait”
Mike walked past Will right into the office, sitting down behind their monitor, working on their website.
10:08 AM. Lucas and Dustin entered the restaurant, walking straight up to a table against the wall.
Max walks up to them and takes out her note pad.
“What can I get you guys?” she says, looking at Lucas who is already grinning at her.
“I would like a cheese burger, a side of fries and…,” Lucas starts, flipping over the menu to see what drinks they offered.
“A coke”
Max nods as she notes it down.
“I would like a regular burger with a side of fries and a sparkling water” Dustin says
“Is that all?” Max asks, and when both boys nod she walks to the kitchen.
She rips out the notepad page and puts it up the magnetic whiteboard on the wall.
Steve starts the deep fryer and walks over to the stove to cook some patties.
Robin starts assembling the burgers precisely, putting the fresh patties on there and covering the tomatoes with ‘home made sauce’ (which was just a mix of mayonnaise and ketchup)
Steve puts the fries in a metal baskets and adds enough salt for an old person to get a heart attack and puts them on the wooden planks next to Robins burgers which she was decorating with lettuce, spices and a skewer pierced through both of the burgers.
El grabs the planks and walks up to Dustin and Lucas who were happily chatting at the table and sipping on their drinks that Max had already served them.
“One cheeseburger and…, one regular burger..!” El says, putting down the neatly put together planks on their table.
“Thank you, El” Dustin said with a smile.
El’s cheeks blushed a light pink.
“No problem” She says, smiling at Dustin before walking back to Max standing in the back.
“Well that’s something” she said.
“What’s what?” El asked.
“You and Dustin”
El got a little flustered and assured Max it was nothing.
When Dustin and Lucas finished eating Max gathered their dishes and brought it to the kitchen as Lucas and Dustin came up to Will to pay.
“How was it??” Will asks. It wasn’t necessarily meant to sound nervous but it ended up sounding nervous anyway.
“It was great” Lucas says, giving Will a reassuring hand on his shoulder.
Will smiles as Dustin pays for their, to be honest way overpriced, food.
The door opens again and a family with 2 kids walks in.
The kids were happily running inside and the parents tried calming them down and shoved them into some seats.
One of the kids starts whining and the mom is desperately trying to get him shut up.
Will looks at Max with a certain look and she looks back with the exact same expression before walking up to the family with her note pad.
“We’re heading out okay?” Dustin asks Will.
“Yeah of course, no worries” Will answers, handing both Lucas and Dustin a candy from the pot next to the cash register.
“Call us if you need us” Lucas adds as he and Dustin walk out the door.
Will looks over at Max who is writing down the families order and walking to the kitchen to hang the notepad up on the whiteboard.
A couple walks into the restaurant, sitting down at a table for 2.
El walks up to them and takes their order.
Will walks into the office.
“How is the website going?” Will asks Mike while he sits down on the couch.
“It’s all… done!” Mike says with a click.
Mike stands up from the monitor and sits down next to Will on the couch.
“How is the restaurant going? Do we have a lot of costumers?” Mike asks, his hands on his lap as he looks at Will.
“Yeah we got a few” Will says, breaking eye contact to look at the table.
“I could take over at the cash register if you want” Mike offers, but Will didn’t really mind standing there.
“No I like doing it it’s fine,” Will says followed by a sigh, “Its just all still a little crazy to me all of this… stuff with the burger place”
“Well our idea was a little crazy but crazy together, remember?”
Will does remember. Sitting on the couch in Mike’s basement that one Halloween years ago.
Will remembers falling in love with Mike that day, or maybe he always kind of was but never admitted to it, not even to himself.
It’s not like Will didn’t mind little him being in love with a boy, he minded that little him was in love with Mike. Mike, his sisters ex and his best friend.
Will doesn’t know how he feels about Mike now. Deep deep down he does, he knows he still loves him, but Will would never admit to that. Admit to chasing those old fantasies he had made up.
“Yeah.., I remember. Crazy together” Will responds quietly.
Max storms into the office.
“The restaurant is getting busy and people have questions and they got to pay and- just go do your jobs please” Max exclaims before immediately leaving again.
Will gets up from the couch and walks out the office to stand behind the cash register again, helping a woman who had questions about their vegetarian burger.
By the time the restaurant was empty and the clock hit 12 AM after a long, successful first day Max, El, Steve and Robin were clocking out.
“Bye guys!! I will see you tomorrow!!” Eleven says, hugging Will and Mike goodbye before leaving last.
When the door shut it was quiet.
“so…” Mike starts, grabbing his and Will’s bag from the office.
“Want to come over at mine?? We could order pizza” Mike asks.
“Yeah sure.. Hey, Mike?”
Mike turned around with a certain look in his eyes. Like he was expecting Will to admit to something or say something vulnerable.
“We should really employ someone to clean… El and Max refuse to” Will says, seeing Mike laugh.
“Yeah that’s probably smart. Who of our friends wouldn’t mind cleaning??”
“I could definitely convince Jonathan if he gets to do it really early all on his own while blasting music”
“Jonathan it is!” Mike says, walking out the door with Will.
It was cold outside. Will could feel his fingers turning red even though they weren’t even walking for 2 minutes.
Mike noticed.
“Are you okay?”
“My hands are freezing”
“Here,”
Mike grabs Wills hand and intertwines their fingers. Mike’s hand is way warmer than Wills is, warming up wills hand.
Will didn’t say anything because if he did Mike would definitely notice how insanely flustered he is.
Still nothing said about their kiss.
Once they arrived at Mike’s place Will kicked off his shoes and sat down on the couch.
Mike sits down next to him and Will leans against him as he takes out his phone to order pizza.
This was normal for them. Sitting on the couch all up against eachother like a married couple.
“What pizza do you want?” Mike asks.
“Pepperoni” Will answers quietly.
Without hesitation Mike clicks on ‘pepperoni pizza size m’ and orders it.
Mike grabs the remote and turns on the tv to a random baking channel, crashing out at the contestants whenever they made dumb choices.
Not soon after the episode ended and Mike clicked on another one the doorbell rang.
Mike gets up and hurries towards the door, taking the pizza out of the guys hands and shutting the door.
“I’m starving” Will says before Mike sits down next to him and opens the pizza box.
When the clock hit 2 AM Will got tired.
“Mike we have work tomorrow”
“Yeah but we open at 4!! Its not at 10 like earlier”
“Mike come on”
“Just- sleep here!!”
That was a good idea because he lived closer to the restaurant and Will wouldn’t have to walk home in the cold night.
It was also a terrible idea because the concept of Will sleeping in Mike’s apartment made him want to jump off a bridge.
“fine,” He says, questioning his life choices, “I could take the couch”
“oh”
“What?”
“I thought you could just sleep in my bed.. since it’s a 2 person bed anyway you know..?”
Oh. Mike assumed they would share a bed. As best friends that should be normal. It wasn’t weird right?
“Oh yeah of course” Will replies, joining the act of it being completely normal.
“So we should probably..” Mike signs to the bedroom.
“Oh yeah- yes” Will replies, following Mike into his bedroom.
Mike hands him some sweats and a shirt.
“Here you go”
“thanks”
Will walks into the bathroom to change and when he comes back Mike was just pulling his shirt to sleep in down his chest.
Mike jumps into his bed and holds the sheets open for Will to crawl under.
Will gets in the bed and lays down next to Mike.
Mike turns off the light and lays down on his side to face Will.
They don’t break eye contact.
Mike leans in.
Will looked him in the eyes and then looked down at his lips.
Mike looks at Wills lips too, his breath hot on Wills face before leaning in completely and kissing him again.
He puts his hand on Wills face, coming closer before Will breaks the kiss.
“Mike,” He breathes out.
“Yeah?” he whispers back, his thumb rubbing Wills cheek.
“We can’t- were friends” Will can’t find the words, words like ‘we need to be more than friends if you want to kiss’ or ‘you’re being extremely confusing do you like me or not?’ or ‘are you into guys?’
“best friends” Mike corrects.
“Mike.., best friends don’t kiss or hold hands”
“Then we are best friends with benefits”
“benefits…?”
Will has never heard something as ridiculous as best friends with benefits.
“Yeah like.. we kiss and hold hands… as best friends”
As much as Will wanted to tell Mike that this is insane and that he needs to get a grip, or a relationship, Will did crave kissing and holding hands. He craved having that with Mike.
“Okay, Best friends with benefits” Will agrees, as Mike leans in again.